Episodes
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A conversation with Erik Torenberg on all things narrative and the The Narrative Monopoly
Bio
Erik Torenberg is co-Founder and co-CEO of OnDeck, which is on a mission to organize the world's ambition. Co-Founder and Partner of Village Global, an early stage venture fund. Erik was the first employee and on the founding team of Product Hunt. He's also a writer and podcast host.
Times
0:15 - Intro to Erik & breaking into tech6:00 - Status Theory of Narratives9:45 - Meta Narratives & Identity16:00 - Martin Gurri’s Crisis of Authority18:45 - Authenticity & Elon24:30 - The Narrative Monopoly43:15 - Truth & Narratives54:30 - The Current Thing1:00:30 - Lack of meaning1:05:15 - LARPs1:07:30 - Rethinking Higher-EdLinks
Erik's blog
Erik's twitter
beondeck.com
villageglobal.vc
narrativemonopoly.com
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A conversation about free speech with UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh
Topics
Computer engineering vs lawSCOTUS LeakBackground of free speechTwitter and free speechAre platforms utilities?The Ministry of Truth Disinformation BoardAnd more!Bio (from UCLA Law)
Eugene Volokh teaches First Amendment law and a First Amendment amicus brief clinic at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, tort law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy.
Before coming to UCLA, he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (6th ed. 2016), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2013), as well as over 90 law review articles. He is a member of The American Law Institute, a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel, and the founder and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog. His law review articles have been cited by opinions in eight Supreme Court cases and several hundred court opinions in total, as well as several thousand scholarly articles.
Volokh worked for 12 years as a computer programmer. He graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in math-computer science at age 15, and has written many articles on computer software. Volokh was born in the USSR; his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was seven years old.
Links
The Volokh Conspiracy,
Free speech videos
narrativemonopoly.com
twitter
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Missing episodes?
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A conversation with Michael S. Malone, author of The Big Score, on the history of the semiconductor industry and silicon valley
Topics include (but not limited to): Fred Terman, Hewlett-Packard, Stanford, Vacuum Tubes, Varian Brothers, Fairchild, Intel, AMD, National Semiconductor, Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore, Arthur Rock, Andy Grove, Jerry Sanders, Charlie Sporck, Bob Widlar, Transistor, Microprocessor, Ted Hoff, Planar Manufacturing Process, Venture Capital, Eugene Kleiner, Nolan Bushnell, and More!
Bio (from Big Score)
Michael S. Malone has covered Silicon Valley and tech for over 30 years. His articles and editorials have appeared in the San Jose Mercury-News, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Fortune, and New York Times. He has written or co-authored more than 25 award-winning books, including Bill and Dave and The Intel Trinity, and co-produced The New Heroes, an Emmy-nominated miniseries on social entrepreneurs. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
Links
Buy The Big Score
Michael's podcast — Silicon Insider
narrativemonopoly.com
twitter
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A conversation with Michael Fritzell, author of Asian Century Stocks, on Asian markets and geopolitics
Bio
Michael Fritzell is a Singapore-based analyst and the author of Asian Century Stocks. He's worked as an analyst and co-portfolio manager in Asia for well over a decade.
Times
0:15 - Intro0:55 - What is Asian Century Stocks & intro to Michael4:15 - Chinese politics8:15 - Michael’s media diet (east vs west)10:45 - Parsing out the truth in media13:15 - Evergrande19:15 - Which sectors in the Asian-Pacific is Michael bullish on?21:45 - Covid recovery in Asia27:15 - Specific equites32:15 - The Chinese sphere of influence & Taiwan39:15 - What’s going on with Hong Kong?43:45 - China49:45 - How to sift through and find truth in Chinese “official” reports and data53:45 - Is the 21st century the Asian century?56:15 Sections of Asian Century StocksLinks
Asian Century Stocks
Michael's Twitter
Jeff's Twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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A second conversation with economist John Cochrane
Bio
John Cochrane is the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the author of The Grumpy Economist Blog. Before that John was a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he’s taught both MBA and PhD programs. And a fellow of the Becker-Friedman Institute, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a past President and Fellow of the American Finance Association, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. He’s served as the editor of numerous economics journals. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics at MIT, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.
Times
0:00 - Intro1:15 - Inflation, supply chain crisis & labor market shortages16:15 - Weird economic signals, looming recession?20:30 - Administrative state + government competence28:30 - Climate change37:30 - The media & censorship43:45 - Bitcoin50:00 - Central banks digital currencies1:00:30 - Government’s role in money1:07:00 - The relationship between debt & inflation1:19:00 - Stanford Free Speech / University of Austin1:33:00 - Nobel prize / institutional failure — rebuild or build anew?Links
The Grumpy Economist blog
GoodFellows podcast
narrativemonopoly.com
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A conversation with James Poulos on his new book Human Forever
Bio
James Poulos is the Executive Editor of The American Mind and author of the books The Art of Being Free: How Alexis de Tocqueville Can Save Us from Ourselves and now Human Forever.
Dr. Poulos graduated from Duke University with distinction in Political Science and received his Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University. He is also the contributing editor of American Affairs and a fellow at the Center for the Study of Digital Life.
Links
humanforever.us
Get the book at: CANONIC .XYZ
James' twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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This episode was recorded on Callin, a new social podcasting app
Bio
David Sacks is co-founder and general partner at Craft Ventures, founder of Callin, and co-host of the All-In Podcast. He has been a successful founder, investor, and operator for over two decades, including as member of the PayPal mafia and founder of Yammer. Some of his early stage investments include AirBnB, Bird, Eventbrite, Facebook, Lyft, OpenDoor, Palantir, Reddit, Slack, SpaceX, Twitter, and Uber. He also writes “Bottom Up SaaS,” a bible for SaaS companies.
Times
1:45 - Origin story of The All-In Podcast4:45 - Philosophical underpinnings & features of Callin9:15 - Changing Red Pills to Purple Pills14:30 - Proposed tax on unrealized gains23:30 - Nuances of the two party system34:00 - The US debt & deficit46:00 - Who makes up the MOD squad today / Social media addiction narrative55:15 - The US’s relationship with ChinaLinks
Callin
Bottom Up SaaS
All-In Podcast
David's twitter
Jeff's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Jamie Catherwood is the publisher and author of Investor Amnesia ("The goal of Investor Amnesia is to provide investors with key insights and lessons from our past in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes.”). He majored in History at King’s College London, and entered the financial services industry after graduating. He started writing about financial history in 2018 and writes the Financial History: Sunday Reads newsletter, which goes out to over 14,000 people.
He's guest lectured at the Yale School of Management, and his work has featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Financial Times, CNBC and more.
Times
0:15 - Intro to Jamie & Investor Amnesia3:45 - What got Jamie into financial history6:30 - Old financial illustrations10:15 - How the government could harness speculation for productive uses20:30 - Detour on Cleveland, OH24:40 - Access to public and private companies and SPACs31:30 - Imperial finance42:45 - Busting the Tulip Bubble narrative45:30 - Importance of history50:45 - Jamie’s closing thoughts on how to apply financial historyLinks
Investor Amnesia (articles, courses, etc)
IPO and SPAC article mentioned
Jamie's twitter
Jeff's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Antonio García Martínez is a writer at and the publisher of The Pull Request, a publication about technology by technologists for technologists. He also hosts the The Pull Request podcast on Callin. He is best known for writing the best selling book: Chaos Monkeys, Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley. The book details his journey from the PhD physics program at Cal Berkley, to trading credit derivatives at Goldman, to founding a YC company - AdGrok, to working as Facebook's first ads targeting product manager.
Times
1:00 - Intro to Antonio, who is the smartest person Antonio has ever met, and intro Qs4:30 - We are no longer a serious people; Afghanistan & democracy11:15 - Elites solving problems for twitter not reality & hot button issues13:00 - Accountability in democracy15:45 - The Pull Request & tech journalism21:45 - Antonio pushes back on The Narrative Monopoly!29:45 - Thinking about what to focus on33:45 - 30 Years War analogy to where we are with the internet38:45 - Federalism41:15 - Austin and people leaving CA43:15 - Decoupling how information flows from matter moves and the implications51:30 - Historical counter point to problems of internet information distribution58:00 - The advent of frictionless and ubiquitous information1:02:45 - Where to find AntonioLinks
The Pull Request
Antonio's twitter
Narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Lanhee Chen is currently a candidate for Controller of California. After earning four degrees from Harvard University, including a law degree and doctorate in political science, he served in senior roles in both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations.
Lanhee is regarded as one of America’s leading policy commentators and experts - specifically on health care. He teaches at Stanford, was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a member of the independent and bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board.
Lanhee has also built his own small business, which focuses on providing advice on fiscal and other public policy issues to leaders in both the public and private sectors. He is an investor who works with entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses and create new jobs. He is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of El Camino Health, a health care system in his community.
Times
0:15 - Intro to Lanhee1:30 - What does the Controller of CA do & why is Lanhee running?5:15 - Focusing on state policy vs federal policy7:15 - $31 billion in unemployment insurance fraud16:00 - Conceptualizing how large $30 billion is for CA19:00 - Will CA see any of that money again?21:15 - Audit powers of the Controller25:15 - Medi-Cal & Medicaid32:00 - Major drivers of health care costs40:15 - Specifics of price transparency & cost45:45 - History of employment based health care & path dependence52:30 - Closing thoughts on the Golden StateLinks
Lanhee's campaign website
Lanhee's twitter
Narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Mark Nelson is a Managing Director at Radiant Energy Fund. He’s one of the world’s foremost authorities on nuclear energy. In his capacity with the fund, he fights to keep Nuclear energy plants open around the world.
Times
1:00 - Intro to Mark & Radiant Energy Fund4:45 - Belgium’s 2 nuclear plants & the green plan9:30 - Why nuclear? Nuclear vs other energy 10118:00 - Is nuclear safe?23:00 - Price disparity between nuclear and nat gas28:30 - The argument against nuclear, Mark steel man’s himself34:45 - Coming Russian of nat gas this winter38:45 - NY state closed Indian Point nuclear plant and there will be electricity shortages this winter47:45 - Climate change and intersectionality50:45 - Chernobyl + HBO’s Chernobyl making people fearful54:15 - Nuclear reactors and plants in the United States56:30 - Mark’s political philosophy (not partisan)1:00:30 - The recent saving of a nuclear plant in Illinois1:09:45 - Will Mark and I buy a nuclear plant? How much do they cost?Links
Mark's twitter
Jeff's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Joel Kotkin is the Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, Executive Director of the Houston-based Urban Reform Institute , the author of 10 books including his most recent “ The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class”. And he’s been described as “America’s uber-geographer”.
Times
0:15 - Intro to Joel1:30 - The rise of neo-feudalism and what is it?15:30 - Power vacuumed to the executive branch & federalism19:45 - Wealth inequality24:45 - Hypocrisy is part of the medieval mindset30:15 - Big government benefits big business38:45 - How the pandemic impacted America’s geography / economy44:30 - FAANG M&A50:30 - Closing segmentLinks
The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class
joelkotkin.com
Joel's twitter
Joel's podcast
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Anthony Pompliano is a bitcoiner, GP of Pomp investments, host of The Pomp Podcast, The Best Business show, author of The Pomp Letter, and last but not least - a veteran of our armed forces.
Times
0:55 - Intro to Pomp2:00 - El Salvador & Bitcoin Beach8:10 - Halving10:00 - Btc as medium of exchange vs store of value (vs other assets)14:45 - Inflation & messaging16:15 - The crypto provision in DC is going to become law, enforcement, the ramifications, and what’s going on in DC21:15 - Will DC become friend or foe to btc?25:00 - How would/should the US embrace btc?30:00 - Putting btc on corporate balance sheets33:00 - Elon Musk & btc35:30 - Why is the media attacking btc?37:00 - Pomp on the media51:30 - Cancel culture, trust, authenticity, and society58:00 - The Best Business ShowLinks
The Pomp Letter
Pomp's YouTube (Pomp Podcast & Best Business Show)
Nic Carter's "A Peaceful Revolution" (mentioned in the show)
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Martin Gurri rejoins The Narrative Monopoly to do a live Q & A on the Callin app cross posted here
Q & A with Martin on:
Revolt of the Public documentary??History, his piece on CRTThe efficacy & reach of Crypto distribution vs legacy mediaCuba, Afghanistan, China -
A conversation with world class economist John Cochrane on a wide range of topics
Bio
John Cochrane is the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the author of The Grumpy Economist Blog. Before that John was a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he’s taught both MBA and PhD programs. And a fellow of the Becker-Friedman Institute, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a past President and Fellow of the American Finance Association, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. He’s served as the editor of numerous economics journals. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics at MIT, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.
Times
0:15 - Intro1:30 - How did John become an economist?4:15 - How has the field of economics changed since John got started in it?7:00 - Are we all Keynesians now?10:15 - What’s going on with inflation?15:45 - Putting modern American life in perspective19:15 - Covid & the incompetence of bureaucracy22:30 - Counter culture28:30 - Woke vs Woodstock33:00 - Central banks getting involved in climate policy38:45 - The role of the Press, the failure of the Press and the 1st Amendment49:15 - The Grumpy Economist & blogging lessons53:30 - r < g (govt debt)59:00 - What & when of a debt crisis1:07:15 - What is John’s specialty? (If there is one)1:09:00 - Closing thoughtsLinks
The Grumpy Economist blog
GoodFellows podcast
narrativemonopoly.com
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A conversation with Max Towey, co-founder and CEO of RocaNews, about the media and state of America
Bio
Max Towey is co-founder and CEO of RocaNews, a company committed to making news easy and enjoyable. He previously worked at a DC think tank where he hosted it’s official podcast Banter. He received an undergrad degree from Notre Dame.
Links
@ridethenews on Instagram
rocanews.com
Max on twitter
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Bio
(From Manhattan Institute) - Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, focusing on budget, tax, and economic policy. Previously, he worked for six years as chief economist to Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and as staff director of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. He also served as a director of budget and spending policy for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and was the lead architect of the ten-year deficit-reduction plan for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.
During 2001–11, Riedl served as the Heritage Foundation’s lead research fellow on federal budget and spending policy. In that position, he helped lay the groundwork for Congress to cap soaring federal spending, rein in farm subsidies, and ban pork-barrel earmarks. Riedl’s writing and research have been featured in, among others, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review; he is a frequent guest on NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, and C-SPAN.
Riedl holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of Wisconsin and a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University.
Times
0:45 - Intro to Brian1:45 - Status of the federal debt and why is it so important6:45 - The insanity of future budget deficits9:30 - Will there be a crash or slow decline?14:30 - When will it happen?16:15 - Entitlements are THE problem and both parties are big spending parties20:30 - Who actually holds the debt?25:45 - Interest rates32:15 - Is American debt too big to fail?35:30 - Can all the millionaires and billionaires pay for the debt?40:45 - How would Brian fix the debt crisis?44:45 - Low hanging fruit49:45 - AARP53:45 - Brian’s closing thoughtsLinks
List of Brian's writing
Brian's twitter
Jeff's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Thomas Joscelyn is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and is senior editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, a widely read publication on counterterrorism and related issues. His main focus is on jihadism and how al-Qaeda and the Islamic State operate around the globe.
He has served as a consultant for the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and has testified before Congress on more than twenty times.
He has constructed dossiers on hundreds of terrorists during the course of his work. He’s been described as one of “the most trusted authorities on the al-Qaeda network because of his encyclopedic knowledge of terrorist biographies.”
In 2017, as a result of Thomas’s efforts, the CIA declassified and released the vast majority of the files captured in Osama bin Laden’s compound.
Times
1:00 - Intro to Tom2:00 - Bin Laden files & al-Qaeda intro7:15 - What was Bin Laden working on at the end?9:45 - The narrative that Bin Laden was “retired”15:30 - What is al-Qaeda?19:15 - Rationale for 9/1122:00 - Abdul Azzam23:15 - Ayman al-Zawahiri’s role and is he still active?27:00 - Media exposure of Zawahiri31:00 - Day to day operations of al-Qaeda & Its history w/ ISIS37:00 - Would al-Qaeda leave us alone if we got out of the Middle East?43:00 - Congressional authorization of war48:45 - What would the world have looked like if we got Bin Laden at Tora Bora?51:15 - Challenging the narrative of “2001 invasion of Afghanistan was a success”52:45 - The Taliban in Afghanistan57:00 - Does the Taliban have the appetite to sponsor another Bin Laden?60:45 - What’s the goal of al-Qaeda?1:02:30 - Final recap of narratives1:06:30 - American elites & leadershipLinks
Tom's Long War Journal
Tom's twitter
Jeff's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Kat Cole is the former Chief Operating Officer and president of Focus Brands. Her journey began as a Hooters hostess at age 17, and within 2 years she was traveling around the world launching new locations for the company becoming a Vice President at 26. In 2010 she became the president of Cinnabon, turning the company around during the recession. That was part of Focus Brands — the parent company of Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli, and Schlotzsky’s. For 10 years at Focus she was a turnaround artist of its franchise businesses and grew global, multi-channel retail offerings to more than $1 billion in branded sales.
Times
1:00 - Into to Kat3:15 - How did her career accelerate so fast?7:30 - What is brand?9:30 - What goes into brand?12:45 - Interactions & brand16:00 - Is brand centralized or decentralized in the org chart?19:00 - Who are the brands that impress Kat?20:30 - How to think about distribution26:00 - Store in store concept28:30 - Grocery store distribution32:30 - Future of the restaurant industry34:45 - Thoughts on ghost kitchens and virtual brands39:30 - How has travel impacted Kat professionally?47:30 - How to become a better leader?49:15 - Where to find KatLinks
Kat's substack
Kat's twitter
Jeff's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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Bio
Mike is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate, a venture firm in the bay area. Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Lyft, Clover Health, Okta, and Chegg. Before founding Floodgate Mike was founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems and Motive. Mike is the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from the super performers.
Times
1:10 - Intro to Mike2:10 - Centralization vs decentralization13:40 - Metcalfe’s law & deploying capital based on it17:10 - How does network capitalism and decentralization connect?21:40 - Federalism & Austin23:25 - Nihilism vs A Time to Build28:40 - How do you get people to believe in progress?36:00 - Impact of culture39:40 - Technology & institutions43:00 - Nation states vs micro-sovereignties (like bitcoin)46:40 - Mike’s framework for companies of Beer Slammer vs Wine Sipper applied to ideas58:10 - Choices, agency, & optimism1:00:10 - Mayor Francis Suarez1:03:00 - Mike’s closing wisdomLinks
Mike's podcast
Mike's twitter
narrativemonopoly.com
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